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In a nutshell, “Shadow work” is the process of looking at your hidden self and befriending it. It can be very beneficial to look within, to the Source of our thoughts, actions, and reasons behind them! Some people may be afraid to look into the ‘darkness’ but when we add light, the darkness flees. It’s much easier to understand your personal bias’, reactions and go-to solutions for daily problems once you’ve taken the time to look within.

You can awaken to your Whole Self during this period that Venus is in apparent retrograde motion, October 5, 2018 through November 15, 2018. I will present Tarot cards, themes and subjects for you to ponder to discover new options that serve you better; visually, aurally, physically or a combination of these methods. I aim to include methods for the integration of your body, mind and spirit to work and play together!

I will offer you these FREE introspective lessons using the “Tarot of Transformation” by Willow Arlena and Jasmin Lee Cori. These cards are delightfully constructed pieces of art, in a dreamlike style, which allows the user to easily enter a meditative state of reverie.

We will start by observing our “perceptions” and how they influence the way we see the world. This will be followed by some suggested exercises and topics to consider more deeply.

For example, I bet you didn’t know that the story of Jesus wrestling with the Devil is an archetypal lesson in shadow work! In this lesson, we learn that once we gain dominion over the automatic, animal, programmed responses we use to live, we gain a strong ally – our subconscious mind! By doing this, we gain helpful insights to our own behaviors and the reasons why we act as we do, criticizing ourselves, creating blocks to our success or even self-sabotage.

I suggest that you get a dedicated notebook or journal in which to leave your insights. By journaling, or creating art, or even doodling, the subconscious mind exercises its insight. The purpose of doing introspective work is to get the subconscious mind on speaking terms with the conscious mind. When we use both aspects of our mind, we become more creative problem solvers and more successful in our lives!

We will consider various Tarot cards to meditate upon and to consider how its corresponding topics apply to our lives. I’ll post details here soon on how to sign up and join our group!

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist or counselor, only have an ongoing interest in tarot and self-reflective work. These topics are universal to personal understanding and should be able to be addressed directly by healthy adults. If you are new to introspective work or find there are issues which cause you concern or distress, please seek professional counseling. Thank you!

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing & right doing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” ~ Rumi

I’m excited about this upcoming period of Venus Retrograde! It is a perfect opportunity to do “Shadow work!” If you want to loose your anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity – do this work! Looking inward, we will discover many truths about ourselves, some we are proud of and some we wish to hide. Those darker truths are called our “Shadow”. Everyone has them. But by doing this introspective work every few years, we can upgrade our state of personal understanding and grow spiritually, emotionally, and remove many, many blocks that hold us back from living a freespirited life!

I’d like to explain a bit of what this process is: It’s using a few moments of quiet, meditative time to ponder the bigger, archetypal parts of your inner life, so that you can reflect your strengths in the outer world. When you practice doing inner work, you grow, little by little, and start creating better mental habits so that you are more patient with your Self and others, kinder, and more understanding of where others may be coming from, especially when stressed.

Now, a sign of emotional maturity is being able to do introspective work without attachment to the outcome. If you want to really know the truth, you must not be attached to the outcome. It can be made easier by having the compassionate courage to look behind your actions, to your motivations, and having the desire to truly want to understand yourself. Don’t criticise or judge yourself, just look BEYOND your self with impartiality, as you would do with stray thoughts during meditation.

A good mantra to keep in mind is, “I will be gentle with myself.”

The goal of meditation is to get to the point of ‘No Mind‘ or the absence of conscious thought. It is possible and becomes easier with practice. Be gentle with yourself and schedule some regular time during the day to become still in order to meditate. I find that the best time to meditate is upon waking or just before bed when my conscious mind relaxes. You can do this work just after lunch or dinner too, as long as it is a regular time set aside for your personal ‘self-care’. When you start doing this work you may be pestered by random thoughts or physical irritations. When random thoughts bombard your quiet meditation, say to yourself, “Oh, that’s a thought” and dismiss it. If another thought is recognized, release it by thinking “Hello thought. Goodbye.” Do the same with physical irritants.

Meditation is a great practice to warm up with when we begin to do our Great Work of recognizing our True Selves. We must go beyond the concepts of me and mine, to the place of recognizing the “Inner I”.

The “Inner I” is also known as our eternal Spirit. Our Mind uses our brains to think our thoughts. It uses our brains to do the processing but our brain is not our true Self. Our true Self, or individual consciousness, is part of the Cosmic Consciousness. Our true Self is a fractal part of God, the “All that Is” Self, the field of consciousness that is everywhere and is everything. In Kabbalistic teaching, there is a saying, “There is no place where God is not”. Knowing that makes it easier to connect with our Creator and the fire of that Spirit that dwells within each of us. 🙂

Now that your mind is blown, I hope I can bring you back to Earth!

Shadow Workis the practice of introspection that will heal and inform, define and awaken your True Self to its foibles and follies, patterns and preferments. The mind, like the rest of our bodies, is a cyclical being, which excels at times and occasionally runs on standby. During a Venus retrograde, we have the opportunity to do powerful reflective work (on a deeper scale than is possible during regular waxing and waning periods of the Moon) because Venus movements through the heavens affect us collectively on a ‘heart center’ ~rather than the gut-level emotions of the Moon.

Venus is slated to go into apparent retrograde (Rx) motion October 5, 2018 through November 15, 2018. This is a good time to reflect on the things that we are attached to, whether they be our programmed beliefs, our habits or our comfort zone~ as Venus’ influence over our hearts desires and typical reactions are softened for review during a retrograde cycle.

I will pull Tarot cards from the “Tarot of Transformation” by Willow Arlena and Jasmin Lee Cori, each day that relates to the paths on the Kabbalistic ‘Tree of Life’. Some will be the 9 tarot cards that relate to the 9 basic vices/virtues our 9 personality types carry as an emotional “Achilles Heel”. The point of doing Shadow Work is to familiarize yourself with your dark side and befriend it~ as it makes a powerful ally when understood. For example, Fear shows us how to be Courageous. We can be afraid but act with Courage. That way we embrace our Fear as a guide that points out our weakness and allows us to grow!

This work is easy and can be considered playing with your subconscious…I’ll ask you to spend some time getting comfortable, grounded, and then relaxing so you can spend some time gazing at each card in a light state of reverie. As you ponder the photo of the card, write any words that come to mind, report how the colors make you feel, see if any shapes or images stand out and journal about them. (Oh, and you don’t have to share your discoveries with anyone, unless you want to!)

Then consider the theme I will present and the corresponding titles and meanings the tarot cards present. There are NO wrong answers. This is personal work that will bring up lots of interesting ideas, feelings or memories. Gently allow them to flow by….as emotions and memories are like clouds in the sky and are not to be held too firmly in this Shadow work. Playing with our shadows teaches us that there is nothing to fear, but the fear we stir up in ourselves. Our goals are to become empowered by discovering and understanding our true Self, releasing our blocks and using the wisdom this brings for greater success and happiness. Eventually, you will find you have more control over your thoughts and feelings and are on your way to a powerful freedom of Spirit!

See you in the ethernet ~soon! ~K

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Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist or counselor, I am a Metaphysical scholar and have an ongoing interest in tarot and self-reflective work. These topics are universal to personal understanding and should be able to be addressed directly by healthy adults. If you are new to introspective work or find there are issues which cause you concern or distress, please seek professional counseling. Thank you!